TV stations airing video news releases (VNRs) still must disclose to viewers that they're sponsored content, or risk FCC fines, the Enforcement Bureau said in two notices of apparent liability released Thursday afternoon. They came in response to complaints from 2006 by groups seeking better corporate disclosure in media, including Free Press, and caught one of the licensees and both the complainants off guard. News Corp.’s Fox Television Stations and Access.1 Communications each face $4,000 fines. Although the penalties are small, the decisions highlight the fact that the commission wants broadcasters to make sponsorship disclosures even when stations aren’t paid to run VNRs.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is trying to drum up interest in its revived rural broadband loan program, but impending Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation overhauls are making some rural telcos leery about getting in line, some rural lobbyists said. The RUS expects to have up to $800 million available this year to offer to rural broadband projects. But “this program may be a vestige of an antiquated technology and an antiquated concept,” said Rural Cellular Association President Steve Berry. “It may well be the money can be used for better things.”

The Communication Workers of America union’s support for AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile may prove pivotal to approval of the deal, industry lobbyists said at CTIA’s annual meeting, which ended Thursday. The union’s support offers cover for Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the administration to support the purchase, industry officials said. CWA praised the merger Sunday, right after it was announced, calling it “a victory for broadband proponents in both the U.S. and Germany.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wants to know why FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski met with White House officials more times over a 23-month period than the secretaries of State, Defense, Energy, Treasury and Homeland Security combined. In a letter Thursday to Genachowski, the House Oversight Committee chairman said the meetings may show improper White House influence over the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking. “The FCC has done little to demonstrate its independence from the White House,” Issa said.

Eliminating U.S. funding for public broadcasting could cripple smaller radio and TV stations that depend on grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, industry officials said. For some public stations, the amount they get from CPB is very significant, they said. Larger networks said they generally rely less on CPB for their annual budget, though any cuts still would affect them. CPB’s $400 million annual budget was zeroed out by a continuing resolution (HR-1076) that passed the House earlier this month.

An Advanced TV Systems Committee (ATSC) “planning team” published a request for information on new 3D TV technologies that could be available to terrestrial broadcasters within five years, the organization said Wednesday. The team published an “interim report” on the “benefits and limitations” of known 3D TV transmission technologies and wants information by April 20 about technologies not mentioned in the report, including those under development, so its final report will be as complete as possible, ATSC said.

ORLANDO -- CTIA President Steve Largent called voluntary incentive auctions a critical component of making more spectrum available for wireless broadband, speaking at his association’s convention. LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja argued that the 59 MHz of capacity his company is making available on a wholesale basis could prove critical in avoiding a spectrum “traffic jam.” Ahuja didn’t address interference concerns raised about his company’s service, which, under FCC conditions, must be addressed before LightSquared can deploy.

Two similar Texas bills would define VoIP and prohibit state regulation for IP-enabled services and VoIP. SB-980 also seeks to exempt telecom companies from reporting requirements. It and SB-985 are sponsored by Republican Sen. John Carona.

The FCC is considering a new approach to AllVid, potentially setting aside a plan that would have required pay-TV distributors to make available a video home gateway device capable of interacting with a wide array of consumer electronics products, industry officials said. They said the new approach being weighed by the Media Bureau would give pay-TV operators more flexibility in meeting the requirements of any AllVid rules, potentially allowing operators that deliver video in Internet Protocol to be compliant. Bureau staffers have been meeting with representatives from all sides of the issue to gather input on the new approach, industry officials said.

Google and the New America Foundation took the wraps off a broadband map that displays median download and upload speeds around the world, making use of open, publicly available M-Lab data. “There’s a lot of assertions” about global broadband rankings, “but those are often not very quantitative, so we're very interested in making those more crisp and understandable,” said Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, demonstrating the tool at a New America Foundation event Wednesday. Speakers also discussed broadband usage caps and bandwidth-intensive video apps such as Netflix.